What the Beginning and Advancing Aquarist Absolutely Needs to Know and Do When Starting An Aquarium

What A Beginner Needs To Know About Water Testing

Put simply, sticking to the basics, the aquarist and pond keeper mainly need to know what to do about the pH of the water, referred to as the acidity/alkalinity of the water.  For freshwater keeping, the fishes in nature have to put up with wide changes of pH in the water throughout each year, so it is more of concern to keep the pH stable, than try to maintain a precise pH.  For freshwater, the "standard" is neutral pH at 7.0.  For brackish-water or hard-water conditions for fishes it is a more basic  pH of 7.5.  For tropical saltwater it is a pH of high alkalinity at  8.2-8.3.  The simplest way to maintain these levels is by the use of stabilizer products in the water that gradually dissolve and adjust the pH over time, keeping it within the range of the correct pH.  The Kordon pH Protector products (now nearing completion) are recommended for this purpose.  Use the pH 7.0 neutral pH for fresh water, the pH of 7.5 for hard and brackish water, and the pH 8.2 pH for salt water coral reef aquariums, and aquariums devoted entirely to African Rift Lake cichlids..

The other tests that receive a lot of attention are for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, because these are nitrogen compounds that are in aquariums and ponds that are toxic to fishes and aquatic invertebrates and need to be removed.  They primarily originate from what comes in the tap water and from the natural process of the "Nitrogen Cycle"and "Biological Filtration" caused by fish and aquatic animal excretions in the water. It used to be that the beginning aquarist needed to know what the levels of these nitrogen compounds were in the water, and make water changes to dilute them. 

Now with the recent invention of Kordon's Amquel+, it can be that no water tests for nitrogen compounds have to be done, unless there are special reasons for doing so.  Simply by regularly adding AmQuel+ to the water, such as by doing this once a week, or more often in crowded conditions, it will control and eliminate quickly all of these nitrogen toxins as they occur, as well as all other toxic nitrogen toxicants in the water.  It is as simple as that.

When Amquel+ is used regularly in the water, it will quickly remove without stress to the fishes and other organisms in the water all the toxic nitrogen compounds present up to the extent of the dosage.  If the activity of the AmQuel+ is not completely used up, it will remain indefinitely in the water waiting for any of the toxic nitrogen compounds to appear, at which time they will be quickly removed within a few minutes. 

When using Amquel+ keep two points in mind.  It may have a strong odor (we are working on reducing it) which is totally harmless.  It uses a slight amount of oxygen from the water in the first minutes of its reaction, so adequate aeration during use is essential.  Just be sure that there is sufficient aeration of the water when AmQuel+ is used, since it uses 0.3-0.4 ppm (= 0.3-0.4 mg/L) oxygen for a few minutes from the water when it is first put into the water, or later when it is reacting with nitrogen compounds that have appeared in the water.   Since this is a small amount of oxygen removal, only when there is too much overcrowding or lack of proper water aeration is this a problem.  Be sure to have sufficient aeration when using AmQuel+.   And it is never a good idea to overcrowd an aquarium or pond. 


If water testing of the "Nitrogen Cycle" is desired, there are three tests:  ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.  The key test to do is for nitrate.  This is the end of the cycle, when nitrates build up in amount endlessly in the water if not removed.  Anything over 10 ppm (= 10 mg/L) nitrates in the water is adverse to the fishes' health.  As for ammonia/ammonium, they should be kept at or below 0.25 ppm (for some fish below 0.05 ppm), and nitrite should be kept at or below 0.1 ppm. 

As previously mentioned, AmQuel+ will totally detoxify the toxic nitrogen compounds in the "Nitrogen Cycle," if used regularly and sufficiently.  If AmQuel+ is used appropriately, none of the toxic nitrogen compounds will be a problem in the water.  For those worried about testing for all the components in the nitrogen cycle (ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate), and want to learn more about the three tests, see the Kordon Articles "Biological Filtration", "The Nitrogen Cycle", "The Truth About Water Test Kits -- What You Need To Know", "What Every Aquarist Should Know About Ammonia Test Kits", "What Every Aquarist Should Know About Nitrate Test Kits", "AquaTru Test Kits -- Important Questions Answered". 

However, there is a factor about the use of AmQuel+ at the same time as water tests are being made that needs to be taken into account.  Amquel+ removes some treatment dyes from the water (such as potassium permanganate), which is good for ending such treatments, but not when the full strength of the treatment is needed.   Also, AmQuel+ distorts the readings of some dyes used in inexpensive water test kits using color readings.  A consistency has not been found in which types of water tests or products are particularly involved.  Kordon's Water Test Kits, all of which use scientific grade powder reagents, are not affected by AmQuel+, other than for the individual Ammonia Test Kit using the Nessler method.  Also, the oxygen test kits using the Winkler method are affected by AmQuel+.  For further information about water test kits see the Kordon Articles about them, particularly "The Truth About Water Quality Test Kits".

There are other kinds of water tests besides those mentioned above that the aquarist may see described for other water conditions (such as phosphates, strontium, and calcium) for aquarium and pond keeping, but they are more for special conditions for the advanced hobbyist or professional who is concerned about precise water conditions or particular purposes.  

When you want to get more involved you should consider becoming further informed about the pH of water (how acid or basic the water is and its causes), and the hardness (carbonate and bicarbonate concentrations) of the water.  Searching the Internet for further information on water chemistry of aquariums and ponds will open up this subject further to you. 

Continue to "Stocking the Aquarium"